USL WEEK 3 HIGHLIGHTS

Charleston, Arizona, Portland, Seattle Boast Unblemished Records

After three weeks of the 2015 USL season, four teams sit with perfect records to start. The Charleston Battery made their best start in 12 seasons with a victory on Saturday to open up a lead at the top of the Eastern Conference, while three teams sit side-by-side with two wins from two in the Western Conference.

Here is the USL Week 3 Recap:

Charleston Battery 2, Harrisburg City Islanders 0

The Charleston Battery claimed their third consecutive victory as goals by Heviel Cordoves and Dane Kelly lifted them past the Harrisburg City Islanders at Blackbaud Stadium on Saturday night. Both goals came in the second half, as the Cuban Cordoves opened the scoring in the 62nd minute for his third goal of the season. Kelly doubled the advantage nine minutes later, and that proved enough as the Battery recorded their first shutout of the season.

“No question that Heviel wants to stay in the starting lineup and he’s taking advantage of his opportunity. Dane Kelly had a goal and when you have both of your forwards scoring, that’s what you want. One can start, one can come off the bench. Ricky [Garbanzo] is doing his job. We’ve got a lot of depth and a lot of guys hitting the back of the net and that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter who starts and who comes off the bench.” said Mike Anhaeuser, Head Coach of Charleston Battery.

New York Red Bulls II 4, Toronto FC II 1

The New York Red Bulls II produced a fluid, attacking performance to earn victory against Toronto FC II at Red Bull Arena on Saturday. It took only eight minutes for RBNYII to take the lead as Anatole Abang volleyed home an angled cross by Sean Davis, and just before the break Shawn McLaws made it two with his first professional goal. TFCII pulled a goal back through Julian Uccello 10 minutes into the second half, but a penalty kick by Marius Obekop and Leo Stolz’s first professional goal late earned RBNYII their first victory in club history.

Arizona United SC 2, LA Galaxy II 1Arizona United SC rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat the LA Galaxy II at StubHub Center on Thursday night, as Dennis Chin had a goal and an assist to lead his side to victory. Los Dos took the lead when U.S. U20 international Bradford Jamieson IV finished a breakaway nicely, but Arizona hit back 10 minutes into the second half when Chin redirected a corner into the back of the net. United grabbed all three points in stoppage time when Chin’s cut-back from the left side of the penalty area found Long Tan, who rifled home a finish into the left corner.

“This is a very, very close group. Preseason they kind of built that chemistry. It’s a family atmosphere. These guys love playing for each other and love playing for our team. It’s a good group to coach, now it’s just trying to put it all together and move forward.” said Michael Dellorusso, Head Coach of Arizona United SC.

Portland Timbers 2 2, Sacramento Republic FC 1Steven Evans scored the decisive goal with three minutes to go as the Portland Timbers 2 rallied to defeat defending USL champion Sacramento Republic FC at Merlo Field on Thursday night. Sacramento took the lead on Cameron Iwasa’s first goal for the club just past the hour mark, but Kharlton Belmar hit back immediately for T2 to level the score.

Evans, who spent time on loan with Sacramento a season ago, then earned his side victory with a beautiful curling finish from 25 yards, and dropped Sacramento to its second defeat in three contests to start the season.

THE NUMBERS

2003 – The last time the Charleston Battery started a season with three consecutive wins. That season, the Battery didn’t lose until their sixth game of the year, and claimed the A-League Championship that fall.

4 – Clubs that notched their first goals in history this week. Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2’s Caleb Clarke marked his name in the record book on Wednesday night as WFC2 defeated Austin 3-0, and the following evening Jermie Lynch earned the honor for Saint Louis FC as it defeated Tulsa. The New York Red Bulls II’s Abang and Colorado Springs’ Mike Seth also struck on Saturday to claim the first for their respective clubs, leaving only FC Montreal among this year’s expansion class awaiting its first goal.

3 – Games this week that saw the result decided in the final five minutes. OKC Energy FC’s Danni König scored in stoppage time to earn his side a 2-1 win against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, to add to Tan’s stoppage-time winner for Arizona against Los Angeles and Evans’ 87th-minute winner for Portland against Sacramento on Thursday night.

“The first half, I actually thought there long stretches where we were very good. So there wasn’t a lot of adjusting. We weren’t clinical enough in the final third, so we talked a lot about ways to make the final plays a little better.” said Mike Jeffries, Head Coach of Charlotte Independence.

“I thought the first half was excellent. We dominated possession and could have scored more than one goal. Overall, I think we have to be very pleased to play an established team like Richmond and take a point on the road.” said James O’Connor, Head Coach of Louisville City FC.

Sunday, April 12
New York Red Bulls II vs. Wilmington Hammerheads FC, 4 p.m. ET
Orange County Blues FC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2, 7 p.m. ET
Every game of the 2015 USL season can be seen live, free and in HD on YouTube, with updates from across the league also available via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Diane Scavuzzo is the Editor in Chief and loves her work, family, and soccer not necessarily in that order. Scavuzzo started covering soccer in 2010 and has published over 6,000 articles on the beautiful game.